“As long as we are protected here in Hong Kong and lahat naman ng requirements natin for deployment are met, then it’s OK for the number of Filipino household workers to increase here,” Quintin said.

More Indonesian domestic workers also came to Hong Kong last year, but at a considerably lower number than the Filipinos. The Indonesian population rose by 3,834, for an overall tally of 154,073.
Together, the Filipinos and Indonesians account for about 97% of the total FDH population in Hong Kong.

But fewer Indonesians have been gaining entry into Hong Kong after their government began requiring local employers to pay the cost of its nationals’ medical examination, insurance, and round-trip air ticket starting in May 2012.

For about three years before this, the Indonesian domestic workers had outnumbered their Filipino counterparts.

The growth in the Filipinos’ numbers also indicates that peso weakness and continuing hardships at home make it attractive for women, the most vulnerable segment of the country’s workforce, to seek jobs abroad despite the risks.

Cynthia Tellez, general manager of the Mission for Migrant Workers, says the main reason why more Filipinas come to work in Hong Kong is proximity to home.

Figures from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show that land-based OFWs in Hong Kong accounted for US$536.32 million of total OFW cash remittances of US$24.34 billion in from January to November last year, down 7.8% year-on-year.

The combined sum of money sent home by both sea-based and land-based OFWs in this city totaled US$694.89 million, dropping 15.7%.